Montee Ball

A touchdown machine in college, the 5-10, 215-pound Ball is a physical, tackle-shedding downhill runner with decent receiving skills who averaged 4.7 YPC as a rookie last season. Now, with Knowshon Mo...

Ball's groin injury and generally disappointing play made him an expendable player for a team looking to make roster room for Danny Trevathan and Dominique Jones. C.J. Anderson is locked in as the top Denver runner at the moment, though Ronnie Hillman should establish a presence of some sort once he returns from his foot injury. Juwan Thompson will serve as the top backup to Anderson until Hillman returns. Ball's season ends with a remarkably disappointing total of 172 yards and one touchdown on 55 carries in five games. While injuries had plenty to do with Ball's wasted year, he was outperformed by Anderson and Hillman to the point that it's hard to see Ball earning reliable playing time in 2015.

12/9/2014

Ball (groin) may be able to do more than side work at practice this week, but he remains without a clear return date, the Denver Post reports.

While the Broncos have yet to confirm that Ball will miss time, it looks safe to assume that he will due to his Week 11 setback. With Ronnie Hillman also expected to miss additional time with a foot injury, the Broncos' Week 12 backfield is slated to be led by C.J. Anderson, with Juwan Thompson and Kapri Bibbs in reserve.

A second-round pick in this year's draft, Ball piled up 3,753 rushing yards and a remarkable 61 total touchdowns in his final two years at Wisconsin. The NCAA's career leader with 83 touchdowns, Ball is a decisive, downhill runner with good vision and burst at the line of scrimmage. While he may not be the fastest or biggest back, at 5-10, 214, he is plenty shifty, knows how to follow his blocks and has the strength and toughness to absorb contact and shed tacklers.
Veterans Willis McGahee and Knowshon Moreno combined for more than 1,200 yards and eight scores on 305 carries last year for the Broncos, but with McGahee released and Moreno coming off a knee injury, the lead role in the Denver backfield is Ball's for the taking. Ronnie Hillman should also provide a change of pace as the team's speed back, but Ball could own the goal-line work and already might be a better pass protector than Hillman. In a Denver offense that scored 30.1 points per game last year, there's a lot of upside here.